GUILLERMO L. MORALES Executive Vice President
Mr. Morales is a senior institutional development and project management specialist with over 30 years of experience in the design and implementation of projects in the fisheries and natural resources sectors in the Philippines and Indonesia. His earlier years were spent in public service and culminated in the directorship of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the youngest ever appointed to that post. As director, he served as the chief executive officer of the Philippines’ national fisheries agency with the responsibility of policy direction and formulation, program planning and implementation, and overall supervision and coordination of the Bureau’s various activities throughout the country.
He was also the Director of the Fisheries Sector Program (FSP), the first loan program in the fisheries sector in the country. Throughout his term as Program Director, he conducted extensive field work to the various FSP sites, which practically covered the entire Philippine archipelago, and provided technical assistance and guidance to the various coastal resource management (CRM) Councils established in the FSP bay areas in the preparation of their CRM plans. He also brought in the expertise of international and national research institutions to develop the capability of locally based academic and research organizations in the conduct of resource and ecological assessments. Under his direction, FSP made significant headways in bringing about responsible management of coastal resources mainly by demonstrating the viability of community-based management in coastal areas. He was a member of the Philippine Government Panel that negotiated with Asian Development Bank and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (OECF) on the terms and conditions of FSP.
His long involvement in the sector has endowed him with an excellent appreciation of its main problems and concerns as well as with the various approaches, strategies, and interventions adopted by the Government in response to these problems. He also knows, and is known to, the key players in the Government and the private sector, including NGOs and fisherfolk associations. He is intimately familiar with the institutional limitations of BFAR and has a very good understanding of its HRD needs, particularly in the light of its mandated reconstitution into a national line agency with the recent passage of the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.
In 1995 he worked in Indonesia as an aquaculture specialist where he conducted feasibility studies for shrimp hatchery expansion projects. He instituted a corporate planning process where production targets and plans were established and research priorities were identified. He designed hatchery production planning and control systems to improve efficiency in the use of materials for shrimp larval production. He designed and implemented a monitoring and evaluation system to ensure that the plans are adhered to by the various departments and hatchery units and that desired results are met.
Since 1983 Mr. Morales handled various long-term fisheries and coastal resource management projects implemented in countries across Southeast Asia funded by international financing institutions such as Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and government agencies.
His projects include the following:
- Deputy Team Leader/Institutional Development Specialist, Coastal and Marine Resource Management in the Coral Triangle: Southeast Asia (TA 7813-REG), Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, July 2012-August 2016
- Rural Development and Finance Specialist, Developing Sustainable Livelihoods in Coastal Fishing Communities in the Coral Triangle (RSC-C00446 REG), Indonesia and the Philippines, May-August 2010
- International Coastal and Marine Management Specialist, Strengthening Sound Environmental Management in the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) (TA 6446-REG), Indonesia, March-July 2010
- Team Leader/Project Management Specialist, Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan-funded Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project, Phase II (COREMAP-II), Indonesia, April 2005 – November 2011
- Project Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation (PBME) Expert, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)-funded Mindanao Sustainable Settlement Area Development (MINSSAD) Project, Philippines, July 2006 – August 2007
- Institutional Development Specialist/Deputy Team Leader, ADB-funded Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP), DA/BFAR, Philippines, June 1999 – December 2006
- Team Leader/Project Adviser, Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Coastal Community Development and Fisheries Resource Management (COFISH) Project, Indonesia, July 2002 – December 2005
- Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, ADB-funded Coastal Community Development and Fisheries Resource Management Project (CCDFRMP), Indonesia, February 1999 – November 2001
- Program Director, ADB/OECF-funded Fisheries Sector Program (FSP), Philippines, August 1989 – February 1992
- Project Manager, ADB loan-funded Northern Palawan Fisheries Development Project, Philippines, October 1983 ‑ July 1989
Mr. Morales is a graduate of the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics. He attended the Executive Leadership and Management Training for Corporate Executives conducted by the Civil Service Academy and Civil Service Commission which is a requirement for a management position in a government corporation. He has also applied MBA from the Executive Development Academy of the Philippines.